The present invention is directed to a bottle cap remover for removing a bottle cap from a bottle.
The bottled water industry, which provides large bottles of water (typically five gallons, three gallons, or 19 liters) for use with drinking water dispensing systems or "water coolers," has been undergoing significant changes in recent years. For example, heavy, breakable glass bottles have been largely replaced by bottles made from lighter polycarbonate, plastic, or similar substantially unbreakable material. Recently, new bottle caps have begun replacing the standard, soft plastic, perforated caps that must be removed by the user before the bottle can be positioned on the water cooler for use. These new caps are designed to engage a mechanism of a specially designed water cooler so that the bottle can be used without removing the bottle cap. This significantly reduces spillage common when the bottle is inverted after removal of the standard cap.
When bottled water distributors deliver bottled water, they typically pick up the empty used containers, which are then "recycled" by being washed, refilled, and delivered again for consumer use. When the used containers with the standard caps are returned to the distributor, the caps have been removed by the user. When the used containers with the new caps are returned, however, the caps are still in place, and water distributors must therefore add the extra step of removing the new cap prior to recycling. When hundreds of new caps must be removed daily, significant man-hours are involved.
Various machines for automating the removal of bottle caps in the recycling process have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,409 to Slepicka et al. is directed to a bottle cap removing system that is easily adapted to a bottle-washing conveyor system. This complicated system determines whether a bottle is capped, stops the capped bottle's movement on the conveyor, lowers a decapping assembly over the bottle cap, engages the bottom edge of the bottle cap in a pair of removal jaws using a removal jaw piston, pulls the cap up and off the bottle, and discharges the cap through a side chute. There are several problems with the Slepicka et al. device. First, the system is complicated because it is designed to function with a standard conveyor system. Such added features as determining whether a bottle is capped, stopping the bottle's movement, and lowering the decapping assembly make the system expensive and add additional parts that are subject to breakage. Even the removal jaw piston is subject to breakage. Another problem with this system is that it is designed so that the rear jaw lip and the front jaw lip engage with the bottom edge of a bottle cap and therefore tend to come into contact with the bottle. The jaws may scratch the bottle, and the jaws may spread contaminants from one bottle to another as they touch successive bottles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,740 to Tye is directed to a bottle cap remover that includes a gripping mechanism that is initially biased in an open position. When a bottle is inserted into the remover, the gripping mechanism is automatically moved toward the bottle while hook-shaped members are simultaneously forced into a closed position. This configuration attempts to solve some of the aforementioned problems associated with previous systems. For example, the bottle cap remover has been substantially simplified so that it is only semiautomatic and therefore less expensive to produce and less prone to breakdowns. The bottle cap remover, however, still includes a mechanism for automatically activating the bottle cap remover when the bottle is inserted into the appropriate orifice. Further, the gripping mechanism has been substantially simplified so that a separate actuator is not needed in order to close the hook-shaped members around the bottle cap. Exterior cam members, however, are needed to force the hook-shaped members together. Another improvement is that the hook-shaped members engage the bottle cap without touching the bottle. One problem with the Tye bottle cap remover is that there is no way to verify that the bottle is correctly positioned when the open gripping head begins to move toward the bottle, when the bottle cap is gripped in the hook-shaped members, and when the bottle cap is removed from the bottle. If the bottle is not in the correct position initially or is moved after the bottle cap remover has been activated, the hook-shaped members will probably damage the bottle. Also, the automatic nature of the Tye system could be dangerous if a small child put his arm into the bottle cap remover opening into which the bottle is inserted.